Research Topic Generator

Research topics worth looking up

Each topic is a question with a real answer you can find, like "How a zipper works", "Why the week has seven days" or "How airplanes stay in the air". They fit short school research projects, science fair ideas, oral reports and plain curiosity.

The list is fixed: the generator picks from it at random and does not make up new topics on the spot. It also does not suggest thesis titles or write anything for you. Think of it as a starting point you then research yourself.

Random research topics by subject

Open Options and pick a category to stay in one subject. Science & nature has the most topics (18). Technology and History have 12 each, and Food & drink has 11. The rest cover everyday life, travel, school, work and money, movies and music, sports, society, imagination and you.

Pick two or three categories at once for a mix, or leave All on and let the generator surprise you.

Easy research topics for students

Set Difficulty to Easy for 46 topics about things students see every day, like "How a refrigerator keeps food cold", "Why soap removes grease and dirt" or "Why cutting onions makes you cry". A younger student can find the answer in a library book or a trusted website in one sitting.

Medium topics, such as "How GPS knows where you are", ask for a few steps and a little more reading. Deep topics, such as "How a city cleans water before it reaches your tap", suit older students who can compare sources.

How to turn a topic into a research question

A topic tells you what to look at. A research question tells you what to find out. Here is one way to get from one to the other:

1. Read the topic and its Talking points. For "How a zipper works", they are "Who invented the zipper" and "How the teeth lock together".
2. Pick the part you are most curious about. Maybe it is how the teeth lock together.
3. Write it as a question you could answer in your time: "How do the teeth of a zipper lock together, and why don't they come apart when you pull?"
4. List two or three things you need to find out to answer it, then start looking.

A 15 minute research race for class

Split the class into small groups. Press Generate once per group, or set How many to 5 and press Copy all to hand out topics. Set the Timer to 15 minutes and press Full screen so everyone can see the clock.

Each group finds three facts that answer its topic and notes where each fact came from. When the sound plays, every group shares its best fact in one minute. Use Share to send the same topics to the class as a link, or Print a sheet of topics to hand out.

Where to look things up

Good sources make a short project much easier. A few general habits help:

• Start with your school or public library. Librarians can point you to books and databases for your age.
• Prefer pages from museums, universities, science agencies and well known encyclopedias.
• Check each important fact in a second source before you use it.
• Write down where every fact came from as you go, not at the end.

When you want to present or write about it

Once you know your topic, turn it into a talk with our presentation topics page, or find a longer talk on our speech topics page. To write a story, essay or journal entry instead, try the writing prompt generator.

These topics are also the Learn & Research mode of our random topic generator, which adds conversation, speaking, writing, debate and drawing topics.